Rouge by Isabella
Isabella's entry into Varsity Tutor's October 2025 scholarship contest
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Rouge by Isabella - October 2025 Scholarship Essay
Mona Awad's character Mirabelle Nour in Rouge taught me that wanting to obtain the highest level of beauty will cost you your personality. In the story, Belle becomes obsessed with skincare in order to cope with her mother's unexpected and brutal death. Her beauty regimens consume most of her day, and she begins to isolate herself. She stumbles an odd French spa her mother attended while walking in the woods and decides to enter. From there, she begins undergoing intense skin treatments where a spa worker absorbs her traumas/memories and puts them into a jellyfish. As the story progresses, she begins to think incoherently and has strange interactions with people around her. Belle decides to not go through with the last treatment in order to keep her sense of self. By reading that novel, I have begun to understand that my worth is not defined by my appearance. I will still be loved even if I am not the skinniest or the prettiest person ever. Being obsessed with vanity will consume all of your happiness, and comparison truly is the thief of joy. All of my experiences, positive and negative, have taught me lessons that I would not be able to have if I was perfect.